Phoenix
by KierstynArete
Summary: My perspective on what happened after the ending of ME3 told through a series of one-shots with an underlying Shenko storyline. Rated T for language. *Epilogue up and story now complete!*
1. Kaidan

**A/N: My first attempt at a multi-chapter story, which ended up being just a series of one-shots that I put into chronological order. I will update it weekly. There will be either nine or ten chapters in total. Some aspects are AU; certain people are alive that really shouldn't be. Reviews are much appreciated! **

* * *

_Phoenix (n)_

_4. a person or thing that has become renewed or restored after suffering calamity or apparent annihilation._

* * *

The humid jungle air was starting to affect him. His shirt was plastered to his skin from sweat, and there was a constant pressure in his sinuses from the incalculable number of unfamiliar species of plants and pollen. It was a miserable feeling, though Joker and EDI didn't seem to mind-the couple was sitting off to the side of their downed ship, seemingly unaffected by the fact they were billions of miles from home. Seeing them together ignited a longing in his heart-a longing he hadn't felt since Shepard was killed by the Collectors three years ago. He wondered, not for the first time, if she had survived the final battle with the Reapers back on Earth. That was where he needed to be right now, helping clean up the mess that the Reapers created, not on some godforsaken planet in the middle of the galaxy.

Something had messed up the mass relays as they had traveled through one. Kaidan remembered having to prompt Joker to leave Earth. The disabled pilot hadn't wanted to leave Shepard as much as Kaidan. EDI had warned him that the blast would destroy her and all synthetic life if it caught them. While EDI reported that the blast had, indeed wiped out all synthetic life, she had been spared due to the fact the Normandy was traveling at FTL speeds. The energy particles had not reintegrated with enough intensity to kill her.

Shepard forcing him to get on the Normandy caused a strange déjà vu to the day she had been killed on the Normandy. The panic in his chest had felt the same. He hated leaving her-nothing good had ever come out of it, but Shepard would never walk away from the fight. She had fought the Reapers at the beginning; it was only fitting that she would see the war to its unpredictable end. There was a feeling-lurking in the deep recesses of his mind-that Shepard had been responsible for that red blast that destroyed all synthetic life. The feeling intensified the more he thought about the concept. It would have happened no other way.

He cursed as his skin came in contact with an exposed wire in the Normandy's control frame. He withdrew from his crouched position underneath Joker's pilot's chair. Kaidan was attempting to rewire Normandy's distress beacon. With the mass relays overloaded, it was a futile hope, but it was the best that they could do. There had been no causalities in the crash-a relief to all the crew members. A few, like him, had been present when the first Normandy had gone down in flames. No one wanted that to happen again.

Kaidan tweaked the wire so that the plastic casing was covering the exposed part. He couldn't afford to be electrocuted when he was one of the few who knew how to activate the distress beacon. He pried open the box that held the wiring for the beacon and set about transforming the signal to be received beyond the nebula in which they were located in. With any luck, Normandy's emissions from traveling the mass relay would be followed to the distress beacon.

"Getting it to work?" Kaidan turned slightly at the voice.

"Almost, the transmitter was damaged in the crash."

Tali sighed, "I suppose that was inevitable. It would've been too easy if everything had stayed intact."

Despite the circumstances, Kaidan had to laugh at his friend, "True,"

Tali leaned against the wall, "That thing better work. Garrus and I are going to starve. There is no dextro food on this planet as far as I can tell. The sooner that we get among our own species, the better."

Kaidan frowned over the mass of wires he was studying. "What will you eat until then?"

"There's leftover food in the lower decks of the ship. We can ration that. It's a good thing there's only two of us dextros in the crew. I actually promised Garrus I would get him some food. I also need to find a way to get the food safely into my suit..."

Kaidan grinned, "Go ahead, Tali, I'll finish the beacon."

"Thank you. I'll bring you some chips if I find some." With that, the quarian turned and walked away.

The turian and the quarian's new relationship was the talk of the ship. With little else to do except sit and wait to be rescued, the gossip was the only source of entertainment. There was even a few members of the crew who took turns spying on the two and reporting back to the others. Being the highest ranking officer, Kaidan should have been the one to discourage such actions, but he wasn't that type of leader. Anything to keep the crew occupied.

Kaidan made a small noise in the back of his throat in triumph as he fit the last wire into place. The beacon box lit up. He turned the knob to the highest frequency.

It wasn't much, and there was a small chance that any ship would be able to make the journey to their planet within a month, but it was hope-hope that he needed to believe that he would one day get to return home to Shepard.

Kaidan set his jaw and turned to face the wall opposite him. The beacon was up, but if he could start the repairs now...there was a chance they could get back to Earth sooner. With the goal of fixing the Normandy enough to traverse back to the Sol system in mind, he began his work.


	2. Hackett

"Search the East side of the wreckage, send up a flare if you find any survivors in need of medical attention. If they are able, escort them to the nearest refugee shelter. If you find causalities, military or civilian, tag them."

The chorus of "Yes, sir's" that followed were of little comfort to the admiral. There were too many dead, too many that had to be tagged. The morgues throughout the city of London were going to overflow with the dead. If they weren't careful, disease would spread through the city like the Black Plague that had happened centuries before.

He didn't know how Shepard had managed to make it inside The Citadel-it was a miracle, a miracle that spared the galaxy. The dead Reapers around London served as a morale boost to the citizens of Earth, but also acted as a testament to the courage of the soldiers who fought in the terrible war. The Reapers were gone; the galaxy was safe.

Hackett cast an eye over the his remaining troops searching the rubble. Many soldier that had assisted in the final push had died or been wounded. Few had come out without some sort of injury. Those who were able to walk were helping locate survivors-a tedious job that usually ended with despair.

"Sir! We found a body!"

Hackett frowned, normally there was no need to alert him about a causality. He looked over at the soldier.

"Who is it?"

"Looks like that Cerberus guy, the Illusive Man."

Hackett ran over to the soldier, seeing that he was correct when the Illusive Man's body was in his sights. The man was dead, his body twisted in an odd direction and burnt from the blast of a Reaper gun.

"What was he doing so close to the beacon?" Hackett mused aloud. He looked up at where the beacon had been, connecting The Crucible to Earth. The results of the mad dash to the beam were shown in the number of bodies that littered the streets. Earlier, they had found Anderson, bloodied and unconscious, but breathing. So far, he was one of the few that Hackett's recovery team had found alive.

"Tag him." Hackett ordered the soldier. The admiral turned and walked away, going to return to his former post at a high vantage point.

"Admiral!" There was a note of urgency in the soldier's voice that made the admiral change direction and head in the direction of the voice.

"Sir! We found a living friendly. It's-" The soldier hesitated, and Hackett increased his pace to a slight jog, "it's an N7."

Hackett broke out into a full run, sliding to a stop when he reached the soldier. He fell to one knee.

"My God, it's Shepard." Hackett gingerly reached for the clasps of her helmet. He glanced side-long at the soldier who had signaled him, "Send up a flare and go gather a medical team, stat!"

"Yes, sir!" The soldier ran away, fumbling with the flare gun he had pulled from his belt. Hackett shook his head despite the circumstances of his current situation; in order to get troops for the war, the resistance had taken any help that they could get. The soldier was probably a farm worker from the outskirts of the city who had never held a gun in his life.

Hackett surveyed the woman lying in front of him: she was completely still, though there was the slight movement in her chest that signaled she was breathing. Her armor was burned completely in some spots, and the rest was covered in black soot from the explosions. Shepard's left leg was positioned in an odd angle-it pained Hackett to see that break. It would be a while before Shepard was able to walk again.

Finally separating Shepard's helmet from the top of her suit of armor, Hackett slowly lifted the piece of equipment from her head. He made a noise in the back of his throat at the sight of the galaxy's savior.

Shepard eyes were closed tightly, as if even in her unconscious state she could feel the pain from the burns that marked her body. Her face was pale from loss of blood-her burns were of the third degree, Hackett surmised.

How she had managed to fuel The Crucible and destroy the Reapers, only Shepard could tell them.

Hackett glanced up from the battered body of his prized soldier as a medical team came into range. He waved an arm to show the men his location. As the medics came closer, Hackett rested a hand on Shepard's forehead, comforting her in her unconscious slumber.

"Don't worry, Shepard, you're safe now. You're home."

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**A/N: No Shenko in this chapter, but don't worry, it is coming. :)**


	3. Hannah

**A/N: I forgot to mention this earlier on in the story...**

**Adalia Shepard. Spacer. War Hero. Paragade. Romanced Kaidan throughout the trilogy.  
**

**I own my OC's.  
**

* * *

Admiral Hannah Shepard searched the rubble around London absently-her thoughts thousands of miles away. Only two days before, she had requested a transfer from the Crucible to the ground for the final push against the Reapers. Despite her age, the woman was as strong as ever and determined to show the Reapers that they weren't welcome in the galaxy ever again. Part of her had hoped-in vain-that she would be given the chance to see her daughter one last time before they threw themselves at the Reapers for the last time. Now she wondered if she would ever see her daughter again.

There was a long gash in her shoulder, caused by a piece of flying shrapnel that was set airborne in the wake of a Reaper gun. The laser had been too close for comfort, and nearly killed her. The piece of metal had sliced cleanly through her armor, though in her adrenaline-fueled state of mind, the pain had been reduced to nothing more than a slight sting. Now, however, she winced as every step sent blinding pain through the damaged nerves in her body. Her right hand was clutched to the bleeding wound and saturated in her own blood. She figured that she should have been resting, waiting for the medical teams to find her, but Hannah was military to the core and hated to remain sitting. She was searching for survivors, though knew that in her heart, she was hoping to catch a glimpse of her children. They were both missing. Her son, Ronald, with his wife, her grandson, and unborn second grandchild, had been staying in the London suburbs with Liliana's, Ron's wife's, family. Hannah wished desperately that they had escaped the area unharmed. Her son had broken the family tradition and had not joined the military. He had no reason to stay in the city.

Adalia was another matter.

Hannah shook her head, the movement paining her shoulder. Adalia would have been right in the thick of the battle. She had spent the past three years of her life battling the Reapers, and Hannah knew that, somehow, her daughter was the cause for the red blast of light that had killed the Reapers and ended the war.

Adalia was most likely dead.

The admiral refused to let the thought be rooted firmly in her mind. She needed to believe; Adalia needed her to believe.

Hannah looked up as rescue aircraft flew through the sky directly above her head. She could hear shouts as people attempted to signal it. It pained her to see what her home world had been reduced to. Earth was little more than a shadow of its former self, its inhabitants even more so. It would take years to rebuild, and years more for the pain of death to fade.

Tears stung at her eyes, and she let them fall reluctantly. She hadn't had the chance to speak to her daughter since she came back from the dead. Losing her only daughter to the Reapers once had taken its toll on the strong willed soldier, but losing her again would cripple her.

She stepped over the dead body of a civilian, scratched, beaten, and bloody. She guessed that the unfortunate man had fallen victim to one of the thousands of husks that now littered the streets of one of the greatest cities in Europe. Hannah guessed that the scene was similar for every part of the world.

She heard sirens wailing in the distance, but even though the landscape was bleak, people were cheering. The war was won; the Reapers were gone.

How, she didn't know.

What she did know, was that her daughter would now and forevermore be regarded as a legend-an intergalactic hero. Hannah swelled with pride at the thought.

Her omnitool pinged, and she glanced at it. A video message.

Hannah relinquished her grip on her wound, gritting her teeth as she did so, and answered the hail. Feeling blood start to run down her shoulder-not as strongly as before, but still severe-she once again clamped her hand on the wound.

The holographic image opened, and her heart leapt when she saw her son staring at her in the orange-tinted square.

"Mom!" The relief in his voice was evident; it made Hannah smile weakly.

"Ron, you're alright." She felt as if a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"We're find-all of us. Even our unborn son."

"That's great, I was worried beyond belief." Realizing what he just said, "Son? You're having another boy?"

Ronald Shepard grinned on the other side of the image, "Yeah, found out the day that the Reapers hit." His grin faded, "Guess Dali wasn't crazy after all."

Hannah bit her bottom lip and looked up from her omnitool, as if Adalia would have materialized at the mention of her nickname, "No," her voice was little more than a whisper, "she wasn't."

Ron shifted, glancing off-screen for a moment before returning his attention to his distressed mother, "I take it she hasn't been found yet?" He sighed in despair when his mother shook her head, "She did it, Mom, she stopped the Reapers."

"She most certainly did." Hannah was surprised that her voice didn't shake.

"She's a hero, and if she isn't with us anymore, she's a martyr."

"I know that, it's just," Hannah took a breath to prevent her voice from trembling, "I don't think that I will be able to face her death again."

Ron's eyes clouded, "Same. It was bad enough the first time, then she had to come back and put herself into more danger. The Reapers were her war though; it was her fight to finish.

Hannah saw her son's resolve weakening and straightened herself up, she had to be strong for her son, "But they haven't found her yet, Ron. Don't worry. Adalia is strong and stubborn, there is a very real chance that she survived after doing whatever she did to release that red energy."

Ron was silent for a long moment, looking up at the smoking ruins of his wife's hometown, "I didn't even get to see her after she came back from the dead. Hell, I didn't even see her for nearly a year before she was killed. She was always busy or on some classified N7 mission. I didn't even get to say goodbye the first time..."

"Neither of us did," Hannah's voice was strong despite the agony that she was feeling, "the same thoughts crossed my mind. Hopefully we won't have to think that; hopefully they will find her."

Ron gave her a half-smile, "Hopefully, but that doesn't mean anything."

"Hope is the aspect of life that sustains us. If we don't have hope, then we have nothing."

Ron seemed to ponder her words, "Then, for Dali's sake I'll have hope. There is a refugee camp near where you are. I'm going to bring the family there, then I will assist in any way that I can in finding her."

Hannah smiled, "OK, I'll see you soon then."

Ron nodded, and Hannah deactivated her omnitool. Her son was safe, and now she only had the whereabouts of one child to worry about.

The blood from her wound had almost completely stopped flowing. She took her hand away from the gash, not noticing or caring that it was completely covered with her own bright red blood. Hope, yes, Dali needed her to hope.

Her omnitool pinged once again-another video message. Frowning, Hannah opened the message to the familiar face of Admiral Hackett.

"Sir," Hannah said in confusion. Why would he be contacting her, of all people? Unless...

"Hannah," the admiral then did something that Hannah had never seen him do, his face broke into smile, "we found her."


	4. Anderson

_Official Alliance Order, issued by Admiral D. Anderson. Not subject for override._

An undamaged reconnaissance vessel not in use for civilian evacuations will be sent to the location of Sol System's mass relay to track emissions from any recent intergalactic travel.

The vessel will then use the FTL systems to track the vessel to its resting location.

The SSV SR2 Normandy is missing and assumed to have attempted to travel to the rendezvous point at the exact moment that The Crucible was activated. While the chances that the crew members are still living are small, the ship is likely to have remained intact.

The Normandy demonstrates the Alliance's advances in warship design. In the hands of an enemy, the technology and our stored information pertaining to the Reapers could be used against us.

If this information were to fall into enemy hands, we would be compromised. With the state that the galaxy is in, we cannot afford to risk  
the chance that an attack will occur.

Without the mass relays to assist in intergalactic travel, it will possibly take weeks to reach the destination of the Normandy, depending on its location.

The crew of the Alliance frigate is required to be standing by at the intact docking bay of London at 0800 tomorrow morning.

In the event that the crew of the Normandy is found to be alive, the frigate will be equipped with basic medical equipment.

The order is final.

* * *

Anderson closed his omnitool with a sigh. What he didn't mention in the order was the fact that he hoped to whatever God was governing them in the galaxy that the crew of the Normandy was alive. They were the bravest of the galaxy, and they meant a lot to the woman who had saved them all-the woman that he thinks of as his daughter. Shepard was currently in a hospital at the edge of the city-the only hospital that wasn't destroyed in the invasion. She was still unconscious, her breathing erratic and burns healing too slowly. Shepard's left leg was shattered, the femur broken beyond conventional repair. He doubted that Shepard would walk without a significant limp ever again.

The crew of the Normandy had better be unharmed, Anderson thought to himself, for Shepard's sake.

* * *

**A/N: Very short chapter, I know, and I'm sorry. Classes started up this week and it has been hectic adjusting to everything.**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter all the same, though.  
**


	5. Joker

"Alenko! Want a beer?" Joker waved one of the beverages tauntingly above his head.

The biotic looked up from the tangle of wires he had been studying for the past couple of weeks-seeming to get nowhere, though he insisted otherwise, "Where'd you get it?" he asked suspiciously.

"My stash in the bridge. Technically, it wasn't stealing. The beers found their own way under my chair."

Kaidan walked over and grabbed the beverage from the pilot's hand, "Right."

"Yo, Crip, got another?" Vega walked up behind Joker.

Joker cringed at the use of his nickname. Every time the lieutenant used it, he wanted to punch him. However, seeing the mass of muscles that made up Vega's body always intimidated him. Even attempting to punch the man could result in a shattered arm. With these thoughts in mind, the pilot reluctantly turned and pulled another out of the burlap sack he'd...procured in the Zakera Ward. He threw it at the lieutenant.

"Hmph...not even cold." Vega grumbled.

"What do you expect? We're in the middle of a goddamn jungle. It's probably around a hundred degrees." Joker grabbed a beer for himself and set about popping the top off.

"It's humid, not hot. If you want to see hot, go to my hometown on Palavin in the middle of what you humans call summer. You will never complain about jungle air again." Garrus was leaning against the Normandy, his sniper at his side (though Joker didn't know why). He had been eavesdropping on their conversation.

"That's great and all, Garrus, but it is still frickin' hot here. I'd give you a warm beer, but it would probably kill you. Have any dextro alcohol?"

"I found some turian brandy in the lounge. I was saving it for a...ah...special evening, but I'm sure I can spare some."

Joker walked over to a cluster of small boulders and sat against one of them, his feet propped out in front of him. After a moment's hesitation, Kaidan and Vega followed him. Garrus returned some time later, a bottle of turian brandy in his hand. He joined the other three men at the cluster of rocks.

"So little alcohol, and so much time we're going to be stranded on this planet." Vega allowed the alcohol's aroma to take overwhelm his sense of smell, "Part of me doesn't want to drink it just yet."

"Well," Joker looked down at his own drink regretfully, "let's make the most out of it then.

"And, just what are you proposing, Joker?" Kaidan could only guess what the pilot had in mind.

"We play a game, a truth game. We only drink if we answer a question truthfully."

"This doesn't sound good." Garrus shifted uncomfortably.

"It'll be fun! We get to learn the deepest and darkest secrets of each other while drinking some good alcohol."

"Why do we need to do this?" Kaidan's voice was slightly strained.

"What's the matter, Kaidan? Afraid of what will come out? Some deep secret that we don't know about?"

"No, I know what you'll ask about, and I'm not really in the mood to talk about it."

Joker's laugh was evil, "Doesn't matter whether or not you want to. That's the point of the game. I'll start by asking Garrus a question. It'll go in a circle from there."

The men's gazes fixed on the turian.

"So, Garrus, you and Tali gone all the way yet? Remember, answer honestly."

The turian glared at Joker, "No."

Joker grinned, "Good! Take a drink." Garrus compiled, "Now you, Vega. Don't worry, Kaidan, I'm picking on you next."

"Spectacular." Kaidan muttered.

Vega took a breath and looked at Joker, "Joker, you and EDI done anything yet?"

Joker shifted, "Aside from a few kisses, no. Kaidan, you're up."

"Fine. Joker, are you going to ask questions about what I think you are going to ask questions about?"

Joker pretended to be oblivious, "Well, if we're both talking about you sleeping with the commander, then yes."

Kaidan groaned, and Vega sat straight up in his seat, "Whoa, what?"

Joker glanced sidelong at Alenko, attempting not to laugh, "You don't know about Kaidan's relationship with Shepard, James?"

Vega, wide-eyed, shook his head.

"Well, this will be a very interesting game then!" It was obvious that Joker was enjoying this too much for his own good.

"Garrus, you're up."

The turian shook his head, "I'm quite content to enjoy alcohol on my own terms, though I am intrigued to see what this game will end up as."

"Shepard tells you everything, what else is there to hear?"

"She hints at things, beats around the bush, I believe is the human saying. Straight facts would be interesting to hear."

"Shit." Kaidan muttered. "I'm not doing this game then."

Joker sat up slightly, "Come on, Alenko, be a sport! Nothing will leave this circle."

Kaidan grunted.

Joker, taking that as a sign of acceptance, continued on, "My turn. You slept with her lately?"

Kaidan sighed, "She's not exactly on this planet with us."

"Before we crashed here. Tell me when, also."

Kaidan raised his eyebrows, "Yes."

"When?"

"Before we attacked the Illusive Man's base."

"I should of guessed," Joker laced his hands and put them behind his head, "first Ilos, now Cerberus headquarters. You two really like the excitement, don't you."

Kaidan raised the beer to his lips and took a considerably large gulp, the game ended when the beverage was gone. He was going to try his damndest to end the game as quick as possible.

Vega was next.

The lieutenant was still in shock, "You really have a relationship with Shepard? A serious one?"

Kaidan nodded, "We do."

Garrus was watching the whole thing, his eyes going between the talking people as if he was watching a ball game.

"Either of you say the L-word at all?" Joker hit his neck where a bug was attempting to bite him.

"I did first, she matched it."

"So sweet." Joker smirked delightedly.

"I have a question for you, Joker." Kaidan had been wanting to ask the question for three years now, "That day in the Normandy's cargo bay when it was just me and Shepard, were you actually spying on us?"

"Wait, what happened?" Vega asked.

Joker made an indifferent gesture, "When we were stopping Saren, Shepard was pissed about the Council abandoning them, she was down in the cargo bay with Alenko...alone. He helped her stand up, but she accidently fell into him. I'm pretty sure that they were about to start making out." Kaidan made a noise in the back of his throat at that, "I interrupted them, said Shepard had a message from Anderson-which she did."

"So you were spying." Kaidan's eyes were slits.

"Yeah,"

"You could've given me ten more seconds, Joker."

"But, I didn't."

"Hey, save the cat-fight for later. It's my turn." Vega said, "So, Kaidan...she good in bed?"

Kaidan buried his head in his hands, "Do I have to answer that?"

"Yes," all three of the other men said.

Kaidan looked up, "You too, Garrus? I thought you were better than that."

Garrus shrugged, "We think many things."

"Answer my question, Alenko."

"Yes," Kaidan rested his head against the rock he was leaning against, "she's incredible."

Joker and Vega glanced at each other, a silent message seemed to pass between them. The looks on their faces were mischievous, and Kaidan made sure to take another large gulp of his beer. "Sounds like you had quite a time the other night, Alenko." Joker said.

"You could say that."

"My turn," Joker thought for a moment. "What is the first thing that you are going to do to Shepard when we get back to Earth?"

Kaidan had to think about his response. He would like to assume that the Reapers had for sure been defeated; he would like to assume even more that Shepard had survived the whole battle. He had doubts, of course, but he didn't want to voice them. Seeing the look on Kaidan's face, Joker said the first serious thing of the whole night.

"Alenko, you have no idea how much you mean to Shepard. Well, let me change that, you probably know that you mean a great deal to her, but you weren't there to see the look on her face when you rejected her on Horizon." Kaidan winced at the statement, "You had lost faith in her, you didn't believe in what she stood for. It hurt her, Kaidan. Believe in her. We all know that she saw this war to the end. We have to believe that she survived. She would want us to have hope-that's what she stood for."

Vega regarded Joker with a look of either confusion or awe, "I think that is the most intelligent thing that I have ever heard you say." He raised his glass, "Let's finish these off. To Shepard."

Joker, Garrus, and Kaidan echoed the toast, glad to finally be able to finish their respective alcohols.

Kaidan was silent as he thought about Joker's words. With a slight smile he looked at Joker.

"To answer your question, Joker. When I get back, I'm going to ask Shepard to marry me."


	6. Adalia

When she awoke, she believed herself to be dead, and, for a while, it seemed as if she was.

The process of waking was slow, feeling returned individually to each of her limbs. The return of feeling wasn't a relief, rather, it burned as if a million miniature fires were ravaging her cells. She gasped involuntarily, but found that breathing was getting increasingly difficult. Every beat that her heart completed brought upon new pain. It was torture; though, the reasonable part of her brain surmised that she had experienced worse. She had suffocated and died once before.

Despite the pain that was burning behind her eyes, she managed to open them. Thankfully the room was darkened-the late afternoon sun casting a shadow from behind a building. Now that she had nearly all feeling back, she could feel a needle in her arm, delivering the medicine that had kept her asleep for such a long time.

Her eyes adjusted to the gloom, though the dreary atmosphere started the process of lulling her back to sleep-an effect of the drug, she reasoned.

Out the window, the city was in ruins. Only the smaller buildings, like the one that she was currently in, were standing-not even the Reapers could destroy all of the buildings in this vast urban wonder of Europe. The giant machines tended to focus more on the buildings that stood in their way, and the woman figured that London's landmark, Big Ben, was lying in an inconspicuous pile of rubble-destroyed beyond recognition. Farther beyond the rubble was a dark mass, many of them, she realized, and with a start, she identified them as the corpses of Reapers.

Closing her eyes to attempt to cope with the pain, she listened. The woman frowned; she heard nothing. No screams of fear as the Reapers pushed forward, no cries of frightened children as husks chased them through the streets. There was also a lack of the ground shaking tremors that the Reapers created when walking. There was...nothing.

Her head was throbbing. The last thing she remembered physically doing was running towards the beam of light and getting blasted with the red light of a Reaper gun. The giant laser seared her skin, debilitating her.

What had happened next was dreamlike. The glowing child, the Illusive Man, Anderson-how had that all happened?. Managing to activate the Crucible while severely injured had been a feat in itself, especially when death was such a tempting option. Hackett's voice drew her away from the encompassing darkness, forcing her to fight back and activate the Crucible. She remembered little after shooting the conduit to destroy the Reapers. She had chosen to destroy them, wipe them from the face of the galaxy in every form. She couldn't risk another attack such as this one. Now, the colossal machines appeared to be deactivated.

That meant that the Reapers were destroyed-the galaxy was at peace. They won.

She took another breath, how did she get here? What had happened after The Crucible was activated? What if the Reapers had succeeded after all, what if she was having a hallucination, and the Reapers had taken complete control of Earth?

Where was her crew, her friends, her family? Did they survive?

Kaidan...

She hoped more than anything that the Normandy was able to leave Earth without being shot down. There were so many Reapers, their fight was very outmatched. How they had won was a mystery. Determination to resist extinction went far in galactic war, she assumed.

Memories swirled in her head. She remembered everything with renewed feelings, as if she had been asleep her whole life and was finally awake, seeing the world for the first time. It was a great feeling, one that she cherished as long as she could. The galaxy was victorious against the greatest threat they had ever faced.

She supposed later that it was the influx of thoughts causing stress upon her mind that caused the pain to return harsher than ever. Her heartbeat increased, and somewhere she heard the beats echoed by a monitor. Her breathing quickened to compensate for her increased pulse. Pain seemed to be stabbing her chest with every movement. She heard the door open and turned to face the intruder as best she could. Her vision was swimming, but she could tell that the person was a woman-a nurse by the uniform she was wearing. The nurse took one look at her, brought up her omnitool and tapped a few of the holographic buttons.

She felt drowsy all of the sudden, incredibly drowsy, her eyes fell and the pain became a dull feeling in the back of her mind.

But she didn't mind the pain, for with the feeling that it provided, Commander Adalia Shepard knew that she was alive.


	7. Admiral Shepard

**A/N: Sorry if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes. I've woken up at two in the morning the past couple of nights for some reason and am very tired. :P**

* * *

"She's what?"

"Pregnant," The nurse repeated excitedly. "One month,and my readings say that it was conceived the day before the Reapers were defeated. I wasn't able to detect it until now due the conflicting readings I was getting from her body-her injuries were great when we first found her, as you know. Now that her injuries are healing, I'm able to see the little life that is growing inside of her." The nurse walked over to Hannah, "Would you like to see, ma'am?"

Hannah glanced back down at her daughter. She had been sitting next to Adalia for a couple of weeks now; Ron had occasionally come and visited. Hannah was stroking her forehead, as she did on most days, hoping that Dali would awaken. Hearing the news that her daughter was pregnant was shocking to the admiral. Even so, Hannah nodded to the nurse.

The young woman walked to Hannah's side and opened her omnitool. After tapping a few of the holographic buttons, a screen opened up that resembled an ultra sound. She passed it over Adalia's abdomen.

Hannah gasped.

The nurse hadn't been lying. Being a along, Adalia didn't show any outward signs of the pregnancy, but the nurse's omnitool told a much different story.

Hannah could see the baby, though it was incredibly small. She studied the image before looking back at her daughter. She was going to be a grandmother. The thought elated the older woman.

There was one thing that was troubling her though, "Do you know who the father is?"

The nurse shook her head, "I can't run a DNA analysis without having to be invasive. In her current state, the process could kill the baby." The nurse's happy demeanor faded, "The commander is still severely injured. The synthetics that were in her body are now gone, and we are having to compensate. While I am fairly certain that she will survive, the child that she is carrying may be in danger. I recommend that she be kept under close surveillance once she wakes."

Hannah nodded, the thought that her daughter would lose her child chilled her. There had been too much death and destruction for a lifetime-her grandchild deserved to live. Hannah held Adalia's hand, absently patting the back of it.

"In case something happens to the baby, I suggest that you find the father soon."

With that, the nurse left the room to attend to her multiple other patients.

Hannah's omnitool pinged and she opened a message stating that the crew of Adalia's ship, The Normandy had arrived an hour ago in London.

Leaning forward and kissing Adalia's forehead, Hannah stood and walked over to the door, glancing back at her still daughter. It pained her to see Adalia in so much pain, but she was glad that she was alive. Now hearing that she was pregnant...

Hannah needed to find the father.

* * *

There were no taxis running in London, even after weeks of clean-up work, the streets were littered with rubble. Even if there was a working car in the city, there were no sources of fuel that could be accessed. Hannah, like all of the other citizens of the city, walked the way to the docking area.

Clean-up on Earth was a slow process. Most of the able-bodied people were recruited as soldiers, and since London was the city hit hardest by the Reapers, many were dead or unable to contribute to the clean-up. Every day news of causality counts and survivor locations circulated around the city. The news was horrible, but after so long hearing about it, Hannah's senses had become dull. She supposed that that was the only way to get through this awful time in the history of Earth.

She had been assisting with locating survivors in the months following the invasion. The hours were grueling; the days went by slowly. Hannah spent all hours not working at the bedside of her daughter or with her son's family. The alien races that had helped with the final push were experimenting with the FTL drives of their surviving fleets-they wanted to return home. With no mass relays to assist, the journeys would take weeks or months. The prospect was daunting to even the Krogan-who could survive off of the nutrients in their humps. Until a solution was presented forces from all over the galaxy were marooned in the Sol system.

Hannah walked the two miles to the only surviving docking bay in London, wanting to see her daughter's crew. After providing identification, she was let in through the wide doors into the bay. An Alliance frigate was docked there, and there was a myriad of people milling around the docking area. Most were medical personnel, examining the crew members of the Normandy.

Hannah looked around for someone that she vaguely recognized from her reports on her daughter's crew members. Far in a corner, she found who she was looking for: Dr. Liara T'Soni

The admiral made her way over to the asari, who was currently typing furiously on her omnitool's keyboard. Hannah supposed that you would have a lot to do when you are the galaxy's greatest information broker.

"Doctor," Hannah said when she was in range of the asari.

Liara looked up from her omnitool, confusion present on her features, "Yes?"

Hannah offered a hand for the asari to shake, "I'm Admiral Hannah Shepard, you know me better as the mother of the Commander."

Liara smiled, closed her omnitool and shook Hannah's hand, "It is a pleasure to meet you, Admiral."

"The pleasure is mine. Your reputation precedes you, Dr. T'Soni."

Liara nodded, "How is the Commander? They have put us under medical quarantine until the tests show that we haven't contracted any strange diseases from the jungle planet we were stranded on."

"Sorry about that, it's standard procedure-though I find it unnecessary. She is fine, though she only woke up once-and that was a week ago. She was in too much pain, so they had to put her back under." Hannah sighed, "I came here hoping that you could help me with something, some information."

Liara turned to fully face Hannah, "Anything, information is my specialty."

Hannah smiled at that, before becoming serious once again, "I was wondering if there was a member of the Normandy's crew that my daughter was...romantically involved with?"

Liara gave a short laugh, "Yes, there is indeed."

"Who is he?"

"His name is Kaidan Alenko. He and Shepard are...close. They've been secretly together since our mission to defeat Saren and Sovereign."

Hannah shifted uncomfortably, "I hate to pry into her life, but, have they slept together-to the best of your knowledge?"

"Yes," Liara's voice was hesitant, "those of us who have been with her since the beginning have reasoned that the two of them were...intimately involved before she died aboard the original Normandy. Through the mission with the Collectors, she was hurting from what happened on Horizon-"

"What happened on Horizon? That's a colony in the Terminus Systems, right?"

Liara nodded once more, "After being dead for two years, Shepard ran into Kaidan on the colony after we contained the Collector presence. He took seeing her again-and with Cerberus-very hard. He believed that she had betrayed him and the Alliance by allying with the enemy. He thought that she had avoided him the past two years and faked her own death. Shepard dying nearly pushed him to kill himself; he was hurting."

Hannah nodded, her breath caught in her throat-her reaction to Adalia's death had been similar, "Continue."

"After they escaped Earth when the Reapers attacked, James said that they were fighting on Mars. That's where they picked me up. Through earning the galaxy's support they became close once again-even closer than before. They thought they were being subtle," at this Liara laughed softly, "I've worked my whole life to get information from people, plus, I knew the two of them too well. Garrus and Tali also noticed the change in their relationship. I think they might have gotten together again, just before the final mission. That seemed to be their style." At Hannah's silence, Liara asked the question that had been plaguing her mind, "Can I ask why you want to know?"

Hannah looked at the asari, "First of all, she's my daughter, and I have the right to know. And second of all," Hannah looked the asari square in the eye, "Adalia is...pregnant."

Liara's face lit up, "That's amazing. Absolutely. I-I'm very happy for her."

Hannah smiled, "As am I. Do you know where I can find Kaidan?"

Liara pointed a blue finger in the direction of a man on the other side of the room, "He's over there. He'll be thrilled to hear the news, I'm sure."

Hannah followed the asari's line of sight seeing who she was talking about. She turned back to Liara, "Well, I can see how Adalia was attracted to him."

Liara grinned, "Indeed."

"Thank you for your help, Dr. T'Soni." And with that Hannah walked away from the asari doctor and towards the handsome man that was her daughter's lover.

Hannah could see Mr. Alenko was getting agitated with the insistent doctors. She could hear him repeating that he felt fine. Hannah walked over to him.

"Doctors, leave us alone, please."

The medics turned and looked at her, seeing the admiral, they muttered their acknowledgment. Hannah was left alone with the man in question.

Kaidan looked confused, "Ma'am?"

Hannah examined Kaidan up and down, "Do you know who I am?"

Kaidan hesitated before speaking, "You're Shepard's mother, aren't you, ma'am?"

Hannah nodded, glad she didn't have to introduce herself for a second time in the same day, "And since we both technically aren't on duty, you don't have to call me 'ma'am'."

Kaidan inclined his head in acknowledgement, "What can I do for you."

Hannah leaned up against the wall, "I wanted to let you know that my daughter is OK. She has been unconscious, but she is slowly waking up. I also simply wanted to meet you."

Kaidan frowned, "Why? Not that I mind at all." he added hastily.

Hannah smiled slightly, "To meet the father of my grandchild."

Hannah watched as Kaidan's eyes widened, "What?"

"Adalia is pregnant, and according to members of the crew, you are the only possibility for being the father."

Kaidan was speechless, his mouth opening and closing, but no noise emitting. Finally, he managed, "That's...incredible!" The elation in his voice made Hannah outright grin, she knew he was a suitable partner for her daughter.

"She's a month along, apparently it was conceived a day before the final push on Earth." Hannah turned, sensing that she was being watched. The medical team that she had dismissed was standing by, ready to continue their examination of Kaidan. The admiral turned back to the major, "It seems that my time of visit is over. Once the quarantine is lifted, come see us at the hospital on the edge of London. I'll send the location to your omnitool. I'm sure that Adalia will be thrilled to see you. Maybe she'll be awake by the time you come by." Hannah signaled for the medical team to move back in, waved goodbye to a speechless Kaidan, and left the bay. It was only when her back was turned to the man she had been seeking that she allowed herself to laugh lightly. He would make a great father, indeed.


	8. Major Alenko

**A/N: Sorry for the break in updates, I've been on vacation. :)**

**Certain aspects of this chapter are AU according to the Extended Edition.  
**

**This chapter takes place chronologically before the previous chapter. Enjoy.  
**

* * *

He leaned against the window of the ship, looking at the endless sea of stars in the distant vestiges of the galaxy. Closer to them was the elegant planet of Saturn; its rings circling the planet like a bird around prey.

They were finally in the Sol System.

Without the mass relays, it had taken the Alliance rescue ship a few long weeks to traverse from the Horsehead Nebula. The frigate followed the distress beacon initiated by the Normandy, which had taken the ship to a jungle planet at the edge of the system. It hadn't taken them long to find the downed Normandy and her misshapen crew. They had been taken aboard the frigate, cleaned up, and, after a goodbye to the Normandy, had begun on their journey back to Earth. Despite the engineering crew's best efforts, the Normandy's repairs hadn't been enough to get the ship off the ground before the beacon was discovered. A team of Alliance maintenance workers was left behind with the ship to get it running again-a spare frigate left with them to transport them home in the event of failure.

Now after days of space travel, they were almost there.

The crew of the Alliance frigate had talked excitedly about how the Reapers had fallen and died after a burst of red energy had washed over the planet-the same energy that had overloaded the mass relays and killed all synthetic life. When asked about the whereabouts of Commander Shepard by a mourning Joker (losing another Normandy had been hard for him), the Alliance soldiers had had no information. The lack of information had left the crew of the Normandy wary. They had all survived the crash and had been wondering about the fate of their beloved commander. The fate of Earth had also been a topic of interest those long, hot days in the jungle. Many had not received word from their families since the start of the invasion. A miniature memorial wall had been set up in the CIC of the downed Normandy. They had written on scraps of paper, leaves, whatever they could find, the names of their loved ones back on Earth-the ones that they were hoping to return to. Shepard was a friend amongst most all the crew; they cared about her and she cared about them in turn. Her name had frequented the memorial wall. They were intensely loyal to her and her fight against the Reapers.

He was among the most loyal of her crew.

There were only a few who had been with Shepard since the beginning: himself, Liara, Garrus, Tali, Adams, and Chakwas. They were the ones that Shepard trusted the most, though she would rarely admit such a thing. She believed in equality.

But, his loyalty was different, deeper, more intimately rooted.

To say that he cared about her more than any other crew member would have been incorrect. He simply cared about her in another way-a closer way, an extremely personal way. Kaidan loved her, and the thought that he might have lost her again was a burden on his heart. He didn't believe that he could survive another ordeal such as the one that happened three years ago-not after they had become so close. She was part of him now; to lose her would be to lost part of himself. The thought chilled him. He wanted to spend his whole life with her. He couldn't imagine any other way of living. Kaidan would rather die than live an empty life with only the memory of Shepard to go by.

"Kaidan,"

Kaidan started at the voice, glancing to his right to see Garrus. The turian seemed to find joy out of scaring the shit out of Kaidan.

Garrus leaned against the metal wall and looked around the ship, "It's not the Normandy, not by a long shot, but it does its job. The pilot is getting agitated by Joker pointing out all of the ways that the Normandy is superior. I suppose that I'll have to help him out of a fist fight here in a few minutes."

Kaidan nodded, "Pity that the Normandy's unusable. It's a hell of a ship."

"That it is. But you humans rebuilt it once, I'm sure you can build it again.

Kaidan returned his gaze to the starry expanse outside the window.

"Thinking of anything in particular?" Garrus said after a moment of silence. When Kaidan made no indication of answering, Garrus ventured further, "I suppose that's a stupid question. You're thinking about the same person you've been thinking about for weeks now." At the look of surprise on Kaidan's face, Garrus gave a short laugh, "I've served with you for a few of these crazy missions, Kaidan. I think I am gaining the ability to read your mind."

Kaidan turned to face his turian comrade, "What do you want, Garrus?"

"To let you know that whatever happened to her, she's going to be regarded as a hero throughout the galaxy."

"I know that, Garrus, she's been a hero since the Batarian attack on Elysium all those years ago." He sighed through his nose, "I don't think I can deal with her dying again. Once is enough."

Garrus grunted, "I understand that. Shepard is the best damn soldier that I've ever known. I count her as one of my greatest friends, and I trust her with my life. However, she's been at the forefront of the Reaper invasion. She was willing to die to save the galaxy, and she did, once. Shepard saw this war to its glorious end."

Kaidan stepped away from the window, facing away from Garrus, "She told me she'd be waiting for me at the end; she made me a promise." His voice choked up, so he stopped speaking.

Garrus was silent for a long moment, "Then if she made you that promise, she will fulfill it. She was never one to go back on her word."

"But if she couldn't help it-"

"Kaidan," Garrus interrupted suddenly, "Shepard wouldn't want you to think like that. She cares for you deeply-though she never outright admitted it to me. I know her too well, and I can see between the words that she speaks. Be strong for her Kaidan, that's what we're all doing-it's helping us cope with the unknowing."

Kaidan watched as Mars passed by in the distance, "Thanks, Garrus."

The turian nodded, "Anytime. I also made Shepard a promise. I promised her that I would meet her at the nearest bar after all this was over with. You're welcome to join us."

Kaidan cracked a smile, "I'd be glad to."

Garrus turned and left-probably to track down Joker, Kaidan reasoned.

For the next twenty minutes, Kaidan busied himself with the preparations for arriving on Earth-mainly to keep his mind off of their arrival. In no time he was standing next to Joker and Garrus at the airlock. The Normandy's crew had requested that they be taken to London, though this was ultimately the destination that the Alliance frigate had been ordered to.

"She's alive?" The relief in his voice was obvious.

Hackett had taken Kaidan inside the partially standing ruins of a house in the center of the city-as he was the highest ranking officer left on the Normandy.  
Kaidan had spent the past hour explaining the Normandy's last journey through the mass relay.

Hackett nodded, "I was there when we found her at the base of where the beam of light used to be. I'm afraid she hasn't regained consciousness fully since we found her. They've been feeding her through a tube and giving her liquids through an IV. About a week ago she woke up for a moment, but was in too much pain. The nurse had to sedate her once again.

"But she'll live?"

"Yes," Hackett smiled at Kaidan's reaction. He had an inkling about the relationship between the two individuals-though he never indicated it to anyone. Doing so would mean he would have to court martial them both. "However, it is unknown if she will ever be able to fully regain the ability to walk again."

Kaidan frowned-of course it was too good to be true that Shepard had survived without consequence, "What happened?"

Hackett sighed, "Shepard's left leg was completely shattered by the Reaper's gun-femur included. Few people make a recovery from such an injury-and none without a limp.

After you finish your duties here, you'll be free to visit her. I'll send the location of the hospital to your omnitool."

Kaidan stood eagerly, shaking the admiral's hand, "Thank you, sir."

Hackett nodded, "Dismissed, Major."

The news of Shepard's condition spread quickly through the crew, as if it was fire on gasoline. They were all thrilled to hear that she had survived.

And for the first time in his life, even though he was in the middle of destruction far beyond anything that the humans had recovered from before, Kaidan was truly happy.


	9. Shepard

**A/N: There is mentioning of some aspects included in the Indoctrination Theory in this chapter.**

* * *

She woke once more to the sound of the heartbeat monitor. The electronic beep was insistent, matching the pulse that she could feel in her temple when laying on her side.

She felt an unfamiliar feeling in her abdomen, so the last time she awoke hadn't been a dream. She really was...she was...

Shepard couldn't believe it.

A day or so ago, she had wakened for the second time in weeks. Her mother had been at her side, holding her limp hand with her eyes half closed. He mom had been thrilled to tell her that her crew had made it back safely and that they all had visited her. Hannah had been ecstatic to tell her that a 'certain male...friend' of Shepard's had stayed longer than the others, talking to Hannah about 'matters at hand'.

It was only later when Hannah told Adalia what had been discovered.

She was pregnant.

Shepard could tell that her mother had expected her to be happy with the news. However, Adalia had been horrified-so much so that the pain in her leg had become overwhelming, and the nurse had had to sedate the commander.

Now she was awake once again.

The room was silent, but Shepard could tell she was not alone. She was lying facing the right wall of the room, positioned so little pain would come to her injured leg. Holding her breath, as not to make a noise of pain, she flipped herself onto her back.

She squeezed her eyes shut, the pain wasn't as intense as before-a sign that she was healing. Her leg was splinted into place by a large black cast.

She felt a hand on her arm and opened her eyes to meet the concerned gaze of Kaidan Alenko.

Though she would deny it to anyone, her heart leapt when she saw him. The way that he was saying her name warmed her; she felt true happiness for the first time in years. A smile twisted on her lips. She lifted an IV laden hand and placed it to cup his face.

"Shepard, it's good you're awake." His voice seemed loud in the quiet atmosphere.

Shepard attempted to speak-to tell him how much it meant to her that he was alive and unharmed, but her voice caught in her throat. She coughed, blood appearing on the sheet beside her.

Kaidan stood, a hand falling on her head, his fingers twining in her hair, "Don't. The doc said your lungs were damaged from smoke inhalation. There was an explosion in a nearby building; your window was open. In your condition, it damaged some internal organs. I'm surprised that you would wake up so soon." Kaidan placed his hand over the one that she had on his face, "Not that I'm complaining."

Shepard cleared her throat, "The-the rest of the crew, they're unharmed?" Her voice came out roughly.

Kaidan nodded, "We all survived the crash. Garrus and Tali nearly starved, but they managed to ration out all of the dextro food for a couple of weeks. It was difficult; we managed, though. We were all wondering what happened to Earth, to you."

"Hmmm. Let me guess, you were worrying the whole time that I was dead. Couldn't have been healthy for your migraines."

Kaidan sat back down, "It was a perfectly logical worry at the time. I lost you once, Shepard, I didn't want to lose you again."

Shepard dropped her hand, sighing. Her gaze was fixed on the white ceiling.

"How's your leg feeling?"

"Fine, really. Actually, I want to try to walk." She made a move to get up, but was stopped by Kaidan.

"You've only been conscious three times, Shepard! You'll interrupt the healing process."

"To hell with the healing process."

"Shepard..."

Adalia leaned back against the pillows of the hospital bed. This is what she hated about war-having to sit and wait while her wounds healed.

There was another matter that they needed to discuss, however.

Shepard waited in silence for him to speak. Kaidan had turned and was now looking out the window. She instinctively knew that he was thinking the same thoughts as she.

"It's strange, isn't it? There is so much destruction, so much death, but humanity has never had more hope. Where there is ruins, people see what is going to be built. When there is a death in the family, they only think about the new life that will form. The grief will fade with time, but there are many things that will remain."

"Talking about anything in particular?" Shepard knew that it was a stupid question, but was keen on denying the fact that she was going to be a mother.

"I think you know I am, Shepard." He turned to face her, walking over and placing a hand on her midsection.

"Don't," Shepard removed his hand.

"Your mom told me you didn't take the news well."

Shepard shifted, "Do you blame me?"

Kaidan was silent, "Yes, Shepard; I do."

Adalia shook her head, "I don't want it."

"Tell me why."

"Come on, Kaidan, can you honestly see me as a mother? I'm a soldier. I-I can't...I won't have an innocent child have me as a mother. There are other women who would love to have a baby right about now. I can get the embryo implanted into another-"

"Shepard, stop it." The fierceness in his voice surprised her. "Did you ever stop to consider my feelings on the matter?"

"Kaidan, it's not your decision. I'm the one carrying the thing."

"First of all, it is not a 'thing', and second of all it is of my concern. The baby is half me, unless you've forgotten due to your 'indoctrination'."

"I wasn't indoctrinated, Kaidan. The Reapers were _attempting_ to indoctrinate me."

"And you don't see how that would alarm me? How do I know that everything that has happened between us wasn't some Reaper program?"

"Kaidan! The Reapers did not have any control over me. That's what released the energy in The Crucible-me denying the Reapers control over me. If it's worth anything, I give you my word that I was myself the whole time."

"Your word is worth everything to me." Kaidan's voice was tight, "Now answer my question-did you stop to consider me before you made this decision?"

When Shepard didn't answer, Kaidan continued, "Tell me why you don't want to baby, Shepard. I know you-and I know that your reasoning goes beyond whether or not you will be a good mother-which you will be."

Adalia sat up despite the pain, swinging her able leg over the side of the bed. Her healing burns ached, but she couldn't stand to remain sitting any longer. "I don't want it."

Kaidan walked around so he was standing in front of the commander. He knelt so he could look her in the eyes and held her hands-containing his anger for the moment, "You're scared, aren't you?"

Shepard didn't answer, but continued to look him in the eyes. She couldn't hide it from him. If she tried to deny it they would end up fighting; she didn't need that right now.

A song began to sound over the intercom of the hospital. The hospital played music every day to mark noon. The songs were usually instrumental-like the piano songs created centuries ago. Shepard frowned immediately, recognizing the tune. Her mother had told her that this song was played at her parent's wedding. After Shepard's father had died, a grieving Hannah had played this song over and over in their apartment on the ship she was serving on. Adalia knew it by heart.

"What?" Kaidan had noticed the look on her face.

Shepard gave him a slight smile and shook her head, "It's nothing, just, this song was apparently played at my parent's wedding. I'd recognize it anywhere."

Kaidan stood, still holding Shepard's hands, "Dance with me, Shepard."

Adalia gave a sarcastic laugh, "I'm sort of unable to walk right now."

"But earlier you wanted to get out of bed. Come on. You can lean on me to keep from landing on your bad leg too long. It shouldn't hurt more than it does now."

Shepard searched his eyes before being abruptly pulled to her feet by the man in front of her. Kaidan immediately wrapped his arms tightly around her, transferring the weight of her body off of her feet. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and leaned on his shoulders. Kaidan started to slowly step from side to side, dancing to the slow beat of the piano song.

"You know I can't dance, right?" Shepard's lack of dance coordination was a joke amongst the crew members.

"Then don't think of this as dancing, think of it as stepping from one foot to the other to a rhythm."

"That doesn't help me much."

"It would help if you would stop complaining."

Shepard sighed and leaned her head against Kaidan's neck. The piano song, Chopin's Op. 27 No. 1, was long when played at the slow tempo that was required of it. Every time she landed on her bad leg, she put extra weight into her grip around Kaidan's neck. The pain was bearable.

"Where'd you learn to dance, Alenko?" Shepard murmured after some time.

Kaidan laughed softly, "The girl I took to prom my senior year of high school made me go to some of her dance classes to prepare. I hated it, but now I can see it came in handy." His voice was only loud enough for her to hear.

"Huh. I never went to prom."

"Why?"

Shepard smiled slightly, "My mother was receiving a military award for her service in the First Contact War my junior year. Since I wanted to join the Alliance after graduation, I wanted to see her receive the award. She tried to talk me out of it, but I wouldn't budge."

"What about your senior year?"

"My senior year I was concentrating fully on joining the military. I exercised every day and night, did my homework, and repeated the process every single day of the year. I didn't go to prom because I was trying to mold my personality to become tougher, harder. I believed that going to a high school dance would weaken my image. I didn't want that to happen after I had begun the process of dehumanizing myself."

"Do you regret not going?"

"Sometimes-like right now, I do."

"Shepard," Kaidan began hesitantly, "I know that you're scared about the baby. I am too, though I'm not the one carrying it. I was speechless when your mother told me that I was going to become a father."

"So I was told."

"Yeah, but the feelings I experienced in that moment were overwhelming. I was excited and happy, but I was also terrified and a little angry."

"Angry?"

"After hearing that you had almost been indoctrinated, I thought that the baby had been made in some Reaper pre-programmed action. The thought had chilled me. I didn't want to be some pawn in a Reaper scheme. I genuinely love you, Shepard."

"I know that."

"And do you truly love me?"

Shepard leaned her head back so she could look into his eyes, "I've told you how much you mean to me, Kaidan."

"That was when the Reapers were attempting to control you."

"I'm still the same person I always had been! They did not succeed in controlling me."

"I know that now, Shepard."

"Is this going to be another Cerberus incident? Are you not going to trust what I am saying until we're pointing guns at each other's heads?"

"Shepard I trust you right now! Please believe me."

Shepard continued to look into his eyes, she saw truth there, "I do believe you." She leaned her head back into his neck, closing her eyes and letting him lead her in their slow dance, "I'm sorry. I'm pretty shaken up right now."

"This baby-I want to have it. I want to be a father, Shepard, and I only want to be with you."

They danced in silence until the song ended with a beautiful low chord. Even though Kaidan stopped dancing, he remained standing with Shepard-embracing her and placing light kisses along her neck.

Shepard enjoyed the feeling she got in her chest whenever she was around Kaidan. While the thought of having a baby terrified her, the thought of losing the person she cared most about in the galaxy was even worse. Shepard came to a decision.

"I'll have it, Kaidan." her voice was barely audible, even to herself. Even so, she could feel Kaidan's grin against her neck. Somehow she knew then that she had made the right choice.

"Thank you, Shepard. You don't know what that means to me."

"Yes I do, actually. I know you-remember that."

"Now that that is settled," Kaidan led her back to the bed and allowed her to sit, "I want to tell you that the doctors think the baby is a girl."

"A girl?" Shepard felt all breath leave her body. The technology of the 22nd century allowed the gender to be determined very early in the pregnancy.

Kaidan smiled, "Yes. Now you can stop referring to 'her' as 'it'."

"Noted."

Kaidan leaned down and kissed her on the lips gently. After a few blissful moments, he pulled away, "There's something I want to ask you."

Noticing the off tone of his voice, Shepard's voice was wary, "Shoot."

Kaidan's hand cupped Shepard's cheek, silently insisting that she not break eye contact with him, "Will you marry me?"

* * *

**A/N: To listen to the piano song (which I recommend doing), type in 'Chopin Op. 27 No. 1' on Youtube. I tried to post a link, but it kept messing up. It is one of my favorite piano songs.  
**

**Next week's chapter will be the last, so stay tuned!  
**


	10. Jeff Moreau

**A/N: Once again, this chapter features someone who probably should be dead but, in my universe, is still alive.**

**This is the last chapter (if I don't decide to add an epilogue). Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, or put an alert on this story! You guys are awesome!  
**

* * *

"Where are we going?"

Joker sighed, his sister had been asking that very question all morning, "I told you, to see a friend."

"Why won't you just tell me who we are going to see?"

"Gunny," Joker put a hand on his sister's shoulder and squeezed, "it's a surprise. Trust me, you'll like her."

Gunny made a noise in the back of her throat and followed Joker through the streets of London. After three months, the people of the city had cleaned up small sections of the downtown area. The main areas of the city were the cleanest. Joker and his younger sister were walking down London's main avenue. The clock tower, Big Ben, was to their right. It was leaning precariously to one side, great splotches of black soot covering the majestic contours of the tower. Townspeople walked among the remaining rubble, their voices carrying over the still air. Along with the downed buildings, dead Reapers littered the city, some taking up as much as two miles. No one really knew what to do with the Reapers. It had been a topic of discussion for some weeks now. Joker wasn't sure whether or not a decision had been made.

What had to be the most disturbing was the number of dead bodies that were found every day.

The authorities were afraid that the number of causalities throughout not only London, but the world, could spread a disease that would finish off human civilization. In its weakened state, Earth's population couldn't afford such a drastic challenge.

Joker, his bones still healing from the Normandy's collision with the jungle planet three months prior, limped over to the edge of the road and sat on the curb. Gunny sat next to him. Finding his sister had been the most important thing on Joker's mind when they had returned to Earth. He had spent days searching the refugee records for Hilary Moreau. After finding her, he learned that his father hadn't escaped the colony. While Joker had been expecting the news, it still shocked him to learn that his sister and himself were the last members of the Moreau family. He remained strong when hearing the news; his sister was still distraught.

"What are you doing?" Gunny watched as her brother brought up his omnitool and tapped a few of the buttons.

"The person I want you to meet is one of my greatest friends. I served under her command for the past three years-well, not counting the years that she was dead."

"Dead?"

"Dead." Joker nodded. His fingers still tapping the keys.

"People don't come back from the dead." Gunny said hesitantly.

"Well, she did. You've probably heard of her." he huffed in frustration after a few more moments of searching his omnitool, "Come one, Shepard, where are you."

Gunny looked up from the webbed pattern of cracks on the road in front of her she had been studying, "Shepard? Commander Shepard? That's who you've been serving under the past couple of years?"

"Yeah. She's a hell of a commanding officer. She's a legend, Gunny, and you get to meet her first hand." Joker sat up straighter, "Of course, she couldn't have defeated anyone without me. Even legendary space warriors need their pilots."

Gunny was speechless for a moment, "How are we going to see her?"

"She's in a hospital at the edge of town. I think Alenko's been staying with her." He made a noise of triumph, "Found her omnitool. Gonna make sure she's awake before we barge in there."

"Jeff, I don't really think-"

"Gunny, you're going to meet Shepard. You're not getting out of it."

Gunny opened her mouth to reply, but cut herself off as Joker connected with Shepard's omnitool.

In his omnitool's screen Joker watched as Shepard's face appeared pixel by pixel.

"Joker, it's good to see you." Joker noticed that Shepard was paler than usual and lying against a pile of white pillows.

"Hey, Shep. How's hospital life treating you?"

She rolled her eyes, "Not well. I'm going stir crazy."

"I'm sure you are. It's a big leap to go from killing Reapers to lying in a hospital bed for months on end." When she nodded, Joker continued, "I was wondering if I could visit you."

"Sure-on one condition. Bring me some food."

The pilot grinned, "What, do they not feed you there, Shepard?"

Shepard merely shook her head, "Joker, I don't want to know what they feed me here."

"Yeah, I think it's time you had some good ol' Earth food. There's this burger joint that somehow survived the Reaper invasion. It's been packed, but remember when I told you I wanted dead cow? Well, I wasn't lying. Sound good?"

"Hell yeah." Shepard looked to her right and grinned, "Kaidan wants one too"

"Course he does, you all like to rob me of money. Do you know how much those burgers cost? Last ones in London, and they're milking that for all that it is worth. Rip off, if you ask me."

"He said to quit complaining and that he will pay you back."

"Well, tell him I don't take orders when I'm off duty."

"He said to shut up."

"Right, right." Joker's grin never faded from his face, "I'll be by in a little bit. Oh, and Shepard, there's someone who I'm bringing to meet you. Try not to shoot her when we walk in."

Shepard raised her eyebrows, "And why would I want to do that?"

"Well, she can be annoying at times." Gunny hit him in the arm, "Ow! OK, maybe not all the time. Geez."

"See you in a bit, Joker." Shepard closed her omnitool.

Joker glanced sidelong at his younger sister, "Told you she was cool."

Gunny rolled her eyes, "Jeff, she is the hero of the galaxy. People like that don't pay attention to ordinary people like me."

Joker made a tsking noise, "Then you, dear sister, haven't met Shepard. You'll get along great, trust me. You have things in common, like kicking other peoples' asses for fun. She's a great friend."

"Maybe, but you are also one of those intergalactic hero people. Heroes only talk to other heroes."

"Then why am I talking to you if you are an 'ordinary person'?"

"Because you are my brother. I'm not related to Commander Shepard. It's different."

"Your views on people are distorted, Gunny. You're not getting out of meeting Shepard." Gunny looked at him in desperation; Joker sighed, "Trust me, Gunny. Come on, let's get the burgers."

* * *

The nurse sitting at the front desk of the hospital looked as if she hadn't slept in days. And, Joker guessed, with the number of patients that were in the hospital, she probably hadn't. She was typing furiously on a laptop, it's glow illuminating her face. She glanced up as a burger-laden Joker and Gunny walked up to her desk.

"Name of patient that you want to visit?"

Joker handed his burgers to Gunny, not listening to her protest, and stepped towards the nurse, "Adalia Shepard."

The nurse laughed, "You and the rest of the galaxy want to see her. I'm not authorized to allow anyone to enter."

"But I'm her friend! She knows me, and she knows I'm coming."

Once again, the nurse let loose a laugh, "Do you know how many people have said that to me?"

Joker was becoming agitated, he stepped closer to the nurse's desk, "Listen to me, ma'am," He almost spat out the title, "I'm Shepard's pilot. I served under her command for the past three years. Let me see my commander."

The nurse shook her head regretfully, "I'm sorry, sir, I can't let you in unless I get authorization from her or one of the other specified individuals. Come back when you have that authorization." With that, she began typing on her keyboard once again.

Joker remained staring at the nurse for a few more moments before Gunny tapped his arm. He looked at his sister.

"Come on, Jeff, let's leave."

Joker shook his head, "I'll contact her again and get her to approve us."

"Maybe we should just leave..."

"Gunny, I didn't buy two extra fifty dollar burgers for nothing. We are getting in to see Shepard or else."

Joker watched as Gunny pursed her lips at the statement. His sister was overly shy about meeting new people-a trait of their mother. Joker, on the other hand, had inherited the overly confident nature of their father. He had also developed such a personality to compensate for the crippling disease that disabled his body.

"Sir," Joker turned around and looked at the nurse, "Can you state your name for me?"

"Jeff Moreau."

"You have just been authorized to visit Miss Shepard. She is in room 215."

"Thanks." Joker grabbed Gunny by the arm and walked along the hallway of the hospital, "It's about frickin' time." He muttered under his breath.

Joker stopped outside room 215 and knocked on the door, he took three burgers from Gunny and waited.

"It's open." Joker heard Alenko say.

Gunny gulped, slinking around the corner of the hallway, unwilling to meet Joker's commanding officer.

Joker, not knowing that is younger sister had slipped away, opened the door and walked into the room. He grinned at the two of them. Shepard was lying in the bed, her bad leg propped on a pillow. Kaidan was leaning his elbows on the mattress next to Shepard with his hands laced together. He sat up when Joker walked in.

"Hungry?" Joker threw a burger at Shepard.

She smiled her thanks, "You bet. Being a pregnant biotic sucks sometimes."

"Hey, there's two biotics in this room, you know." Kaidan held up his hands to catch his own burger.

"Yeah, yeah, Alenko." Joker sat down in one of the rooms chairs and began to eat his burger. His eyes closed at the taste, "That hits the spot. Hey, Shepard, your leg better? I don't see a cast."

Shepard took a bite of her hamburger and savored the taste. It had been a long time since she had had Earth food. The food made in the mess of the Normandy didn't compare. "I do have a cast-in a way. They fitted me with a flexible exoskeleton for my leg. Apparently, I'll be able to walk without a limp in a few more days." Joker nodded, and after another bite of her burger, Shepard asked, "Who did you want me to meet, Joker?"

Joker's eyes opened wide, he had completely forgotten about his sister-which made him sound like an irresponsible brother. He put down his burger and glanced at the door of the room, finally noticing that Gunny had disappeared. He shook his head in dismay, "Well, she was right behind me, but she's shy. Hang on." Joker stood and walked into the hallway of the hospital. He spotted his sister, grabbed her sleeve, ignoring her protests and dragged her into Shepard's room.

"This," Joker said once he had pulled his sister in front of Shepard and Kaidan, "is my little sister, Gunny. Gunny, this is Kaidan Alenko and Shepard. I served with them both on the Normandy."

Gunny managed a small wave as they said their greetings.

In the minutes that followed, Joker and Kaidan sat talking about dealings with the Normandy and her crew. Gunny was leaning against the wall of the room, her hamburger long gone. There was a question that she wanted to ask the commander. She had been mustering up her courage to approach the legendary figure who was lying in the hospital bed a mere five feet away.

Finally finding her resolve, Gunny walked over to Shepard, "Commander, can I ask you a question?"

Shepard glanced up from the data pad she had been staring at and set it aside, "Only if you don't call me 'commander'. You're a little too young to be in the Alliance."

Gunny frowned, "So, what do I call you then?"

Shepard shrugged, "Shepard, Adalia, Dali," she gave a half smile, "pick one."

Gunny nodded, "Dali, is my brother really dating a robot? He won't give me a straight answer."

Shepard chuckled, "Technically, she isn't a robot-she's an AI-artificial intelligence." Shepard added, seeing the look on Gunny's face, "She was the computer interface of my ship-the Normandy, introduced when Cerberus built the SR2 model. After the Reapers attacked Earth, we went to Mars where we took the dead body of a Cerberus operative onboard. EDI-which is abbreviated from Effective Defense Interface, took over that body. It surprised the hell out of us all."

"How did they become involved?"

Shepard smiled mischievously, "Well, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't lend a hand."

"You set them up?"

"In a way. I really only gave the approval. It helped if we all had someone to fight for-someone to come back to in the end." It didn't escape Gunny's notice how Shepard's eyes flickered towards Kaidan at the statement.

"Can you tell me how it happened?"

Shepard propped herself up slightly higher against the pillows, "I started to notice Joker's...attraction...to EDI when I found him flirting with the ship..."

_~Finis~_


	11. Epilogue

**A/N: So, I lied. Last chapter wasn't the last; I had this wonderful epilogue to publish as well. You didn't think I would end the story at the last chapter, did you?  
**

**This is the final chapter. The story is now officially complete.  
**

**Thanks again to everyone!  
**

**I hope you enjoy the final installment in Phoenix.  
**

* * *

She was in a daze. She could only watch as a seemingly endless expanse of white ceiling passed over her head. The drugs in her system to counteract the pain and nearly knock her out were fading, albeit slowly. Her mind refused to process what had happened in the past couple of hours.

She vaguely remembered being wheeled into the operating room amidst a horrible bout of pain. After having to leave Kaidan, she had felt an overwhelming feeling of fear. What was to happen, nobody knew.

She closed her eyes as the bed she was being wheeled on passed through the hospital hallways. She was feeling dizzy. She didn't know how much time had passed since the last time she was conscious; time was an extremely relative figure at this point.

The rolling bed eventually came to a gentle stop in a dimly lit room. She heard voices, but didn't have the energy to make out the whispered words. The door, and a voice she recognized sounded through the room. Through her limp fingers intertwined the slightly larger fingers of Kaidan.

"Can you hear me?" His voice was wavering.

Shepard groaned softly as she slowly opened her eyes. As the medicine lessened in intensity, a distinct soreness was appearing in the area of her abdomen.

His face swam into view, and when her eyes opened, he reached over to move a hair out of her face. Shepard knew that her appearance was probably awful, but didn't care at the moment. As far as she knew, she had had one hell of a surgery.

Something was missing, something was off, but she couldn't place her finger on it.

"The baby," she suddenly gasped, her fingers flew to her abdomen, which she found to be swathed in bandages and painful to the touch. There was not the distinct swell of the child she had been carrying for the past nine months, "Where?" she breathed.

The look in Kaidan's eyes frightened her, "She's alive," Kaidan's mouth formed into a half-smile, "they did an emergency c-section. I was hoping that _you_ knew where she is or," he let out a puff of air, "how she is."

"I've been unconscious."

"I know. I'm just," he sat on the side of her bed, "I'm frightened for her, Dali."

Shepard closed her eyes painfully; Kaidan looked down at her, concerned, "You're shaking. You feeling alright?"

"Where is she, Kaidan? I need to see her." The strength of her own voice surprised her.

"I'll ask." He rose from his position at her bedside and ventured out into the hallway. Shepard heard his voice distantly as he asked a passing nurse. She felt like shit.

"Neonatal Intensive Care," Kaidan said as he reentered the room, "best place for at-risk infants to go."

"At-risk?" She asked softly, her mind not comprehending that something was wrong with her newborn child.

"Dali, the injuries you sustained during the war were enough to kill a person. The doctors are surprised you were able to carry the baby full term." At the look on her face he walked over and kissed her forehead, sitting next to her on the hard bed, "They're making sure she is healthy and ready to come back to us. She'll make it."

"Promise?"

"I can't promise anything, but I hope to God that is the case."

Shepard gave a short, breathy laugh, "Now you're the one who has to stay strong for me."

He gave her that smirk that she loved so much, "I'm doing my best. She's my daughter too, you know."

They stayed in a comfortable silence for minutes as they listened to the monotonous sound of the heart monitor.

The door to the room opened, and a frazzled looking nurse popped her head in the opening, "Ma'am, the baby's body temperature is stable and she is ready to see her parents!" The nurse smiled, "To get her to bond with you, we are going to do skin-to-skin contact. Are you feeling able to perform this?"

"Yes." Shepard said immediately.

The nurse nodded, cast an expert eye over Dali's vitals, then turned a baleful eye on Kaidan, "Sir, you aren't supposed to be sitting on the patient's bed. You can move the chairs in the room to her bedside, if you please." And with that she closed the door. The sound of her heels against the floor echoed through the room as she walked down the hallway.

Kaidan sighed as he stood and dragged a chair to her bedside; she watched him, "Kaidan, help prop me up the pillows."

He nodded and piled the pillows to support her comfortably before plopping into the chair unceremoniously. "While you were in surgery, the Asari Matriarch messaged your omnitool to say that there is a report you haven't filed. I didn't respond."

"Don't," Shepard muttered, her hatred for the council obvious in the tone of her voice, "I'm a little busy right now. Her damn reports can wait."

Kaidan smirked, "Never one to give in to political bullshit."

Shepard shook her head and gave him a wan smile. The two waited for their infant daughter to be brought to them.

"I notified our parents and your brother. Your mother is already here, but they aren't letting her come in. Only the father of the baby is allowed in until the doc says otherwise."

Before she could reply a team of nurses arrived to prep her. Kaidan was ushered to the back of the room so he wouldn't get in the way.

Adalia watched in anticipation as a nurse unbuttoned the top buttons of her hospital gown and gently pushed them the gown aside, exposing the skin between her breasts. The nurse from earlier backed through the door, rolling a glass container bearing the resemblance of a crib.

Shepard's breath stopped.

The tiny figure was pink in color, barely bigger than Dali's forearm. She was breathing in quick breaths-made evident by the small movements of her chest. The nurse lifted the small being lying still in the crib and transferred her ever so carefully to the body of her mother. They placed the baby on her stomach so her heartbeat would be near that of Shepard's. Shepard made a small noise in the back of her throat when she felt her daughter's smooth skin come in contact with her own. She could feel the tiny movements of the baby's heart and lungs against her own body.

Shepard immediately was flooded with a sense of love for the child she had carried in her womb for those long months. She would do whatever it took to keep her daughter safe.

"There are nurses in the immediate area of this room if you sense any trouble. We have increased the temperature in the room to help you provide heat for the baby. It'll get very warm, but it is necessary." Dali nodded shakily, "I'll be back for the baby in half an hour. It should be enough time to get the bond going with your daughter" The nurse grinned, "Congratulations! If you have family in the waiting room I'll let them come in here in a few minutes-to give you two time to get to know your little girl!" The nurse's enthusiasm slightly annoying, but appreciated at the same time.

The nurses left the room to leave Kaidan and Shepard alone with their new baby.

Kaidan was quickly at Shepard's side, looking in awe at the product of their love. "Sh-she's..." He was at a loss for words.

Shepard's fingers were shaking as she slowly reached a hand up to touch the pink body lying on her chest. The skin felt raw, and the baby was clothed in a small diaper. Shepard was scared to touch her. Kaidan gently reached over also stroked the baby. After a few moments of their admiration of their child, Shepard met Kaidan's eyes, her own awed expression mirrored on his face. He leaned over and kissed her temple.

"You made her." he whispered against her head.

"We did," Shepard murmured looking down at the baby, "and she survived the Reaper war."

"She's like her mom," Kaidan smiled, "stubborn and strong."

"She has two Spectres for parents-we'll have to make sure she doesn't try to go off and save the galaxy." Shepard felt incredibly happy to be sitting with Kaidan and the baby-her family-and talking about the future. The future was something that she had been sure wouldn't exist when she was fighting the Reapers. She found she was glad to have such a future in store for her and Kaidan.

He laughed, "It'll be an interesting experience to raise her."

Dali smiled, "We've faced down Reapers, raising a kid can't be that bad."

"If you say so." He kissed Shepard on the lips, "I love you, both of you." He looked at their daughter, smiling, "You're my two favorite people in the world."

Shepard raised her eyes from the baby to meet Kaidan's warm, brown ones. "We're a family now."

"That we are." He rested his head on the pillow, leaning against Shepard's while they both marveled at the child they had brought to life. Kaidan was holding one of her hands and resting his other so it was barely touching the baby.

"What are we going to name her?" He thought aloud.

Shepard frowned, thinking. They hadn't thought about naming their unborn daughter-something that they had silently agreed to postpone until they weren't busy with mundane post-war tasks. However, nothing ever went according to plan when it came to the galaxy's first human Spectres. "Ashley."

"Ashley?"

Shepard nodded, "Named after a friend who would have loved to see each and every reaper hit the ground dead."

Kaidan looked back down at the baby, smiling at the memory of the soldier, "Ashley it is then."

"Ashley." Shepard whispered and lightly touched the baby's head, "She's perfect."

"I'm going to call her Sunny as a nickname."

Shepard raised her eyebrows, "Sunny?"

He nodded, "She survived the largest battle in the history of the galaxy. She was alive when we were in our darkest hour and during the process of defeating our greatest enemy. She represents the hope that the galaxy needed to win the war." He smiled, "Sunny."


End file.
